About 50 million Americans are suffering from autoimmune diseases, and their condition seems to get worse every day along with a poor diet. German researchers from Friedrich Alexander University and Ruhr University compared the effects of different dietary fats on mice suffering from autoimmune diseases. Their study was successfully published in the academic journal Immunity, and the findings may provide dietary advice to those with type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and Crohn’s disease. According to the American Autoimmune Association, autoimmune diseases occur when the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy cells. The cause of this physiological disorder is not known so far, but researchers are preparing to further study the relationship between dietary fat and autoimmune disease. There are two main types of fatty acids in the body, and they play different roles in building nerve cells, producing energy, and forming cell membranes. For example, long-chain fatty acids, which are solid at room temperature, are abundant in the Western diet of pork, lamb, butter, cheese, whole milk, etc. Omega-3 fatty acids, on the other hand, are usually found in fiber-rich foods and are only metabolized and digested by intestinal flora, a type of short-chain fatty acid found in flax oil, pecans, soybeans, and green leafy vegetables. In this study, researchers found that when mice consumed foods rich in long-chain fatty acids, they released pro-inflammatory T cells, which greatly worsened autoimmune disease (anxiety and stress are also triggers for autoimmune disease). In people with Crohn’s autoimmune disease, the worsening condition causes the T cells to attack the cells in the lining of the digestive tract, which causes severe gastric disease. During treatment, doctors use immunotherapy drugs to reduce the aggressiveness of the immune system and stop it from attacking healthy as well as harmful cells. The team found that allowing mice to ingest short-chain fatty acids promoted the growth of regulatory T cells, keeping the immune system under constant surveillance. In animal models, this intake of short-chain fatty acids prevented further disease progression. Ralf Linker, an investigator at Friedrich Alexander University, explained, “Most approved immunotherapeutic approaches can weaken or block the pro-inflammatory components of the immune system, but therapeutic strategies can continue to be refined and enhanced in terms of their application to treat autoimmune diseases by enhancing the regulation of immune molecular pathways. “ Study co-author Aiden Haghikia, a multiple sclerosis specialist at Ruhr University, added, “Our plan is to use the success of our research to develop innovative dietary strategies that could be used as ‘dietary therapies’ for immunotherapy in multiple sclerosis. strategy in MS.”